Remember Run for Money? You Can Play It In English Now

Remember Run for Money Tousouchuu, that one Nintendo 3DS game by Bandai Namco that really took off in Japan? It’s available on iOS and Android devices now, and it’s in English to boot.

Run for Money has an interesting premise. You hear rumours of “Chronos,” a corporation from the year 2900, ringing people up on their phones to tell them about a game called “Run for Money,” where you compete to win prizes. Chronos and Run for Money are considered a rumour, until one day, the corporation rings you up.

Run for Money puts you in the shoes of a “runner”. The whole time, you’re chased by “hunters” through city streets and the goal is to survive until time runs out. Winning means getting to take home valuable loot, while losing means you lose everything you’ve won. It’s a gamble, so sometimes, it’s better to cash in your winnings while you can.

The game begins by asking you to choose your name and gender. Once you’ve done that, you’re thrown right into the game while the Operator gives you a quick on-the-fly tutorial on how to play. The tutorial is completely inoffensive, and I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I could begin playing.

Run for Money has multiple stages, NPCs and endings. It also has worldwide rankings so you can see how you hold up against other runners. You can download the game for either iOS or Android devices.

Ehh out of Square-Enix, SNK, Konami, Sega, Capcom….Namco (sans Gundam, console [email protected], and God Eater 2), have made the furthest strides recently towards localizing their games.
This time here, it’s just for the wrong platform lol but I guess they have less faith in 3DS Western fans actually paying for this game on eShop as opposed to throwing it up for free on iOS with in app purchases…

Perhaps S-E can take a cue on that and localize Dragon Quest X on Wii U as a free to play RPG because I don’t see Western Nintendo fans willing to pay monthly overall for a Wii U RPG..

wez

costs more money to release on DS is my guess

KnifeAndFork

Seen some pretty cheap looking digital only 3DS and DSiWare games so it can’t be that bad. They probably just figure there’s more consumer browsing population on iOS than 3DS, as well as potentially more money to be made because lol microtransactions

But the downside to that of course is there’s more saturation of Mobage games that can potentially drown out this games appearance as iOS consumers are probably more fickle

Zoozbuh

If it was a physical/cartridge release, you may have a point, but I’m not sure if it’s true in this case. Like KnifeAndFork said, it’s probably because they wanted a 1) bigger audience, which in turn means 2) more chance of people stumbling across the game and trying it out, 3) if more people buy, they can afford to keep the price cheaper.
It’s a shame though, I’d like to see more unique eShop games to be honest.

CozyAndWarm

…really? Namco bothered to translate the game, but not even release it here on the system it was developed for? Trying to understand these ridiculous Japanese publishers is getting more and more frustrating.

KnifeAndFork

They really going insane with Mobage. Probably because of Vita not doing too well, 3DS slow start, rising cost of HD games and Japanese overall waning interest in them, and the ridiculous cash Puzzle n Dragons, Angry Birds and Candy Crush made, so hopping on that bandwagon, when last gen, It was all about moving to handhelds.
Now they are moving away from handhelds straight for Mobage only lol

Lumi

This isn’t a Mobage game. Are you confusing Mobage and Mobile?

KnifeAndFork

I just lump em together because Mobage sounds close to garbage lol

Zero_Destiny

Banned.

Lumi

Mobage stuff is indeed garbage lol, but there are some good stuff on mobile too, no matter how much garbage there is.

Lumi

Good for them to release the mobile port, the TV show itself is pretty mainstream (or as mainstream as Japanese game shows go). In Japan the 3DS has a large enough install base for them to release and still get sales, but outside of Japan, they want to target a wider audience.

s07195

I’m glad they translated it for fans in the English-speaking world. My brother just saw it on the App Store today before I read this news~

nonscpo

So my Android device is incompatible will have to add it to my wishlist and download it whenever I upgrade to my next phone :(

Zoozbuh

I CBA with mobile games nowadays, my phone is constantly running out of storage space (no micro SD slot), not to mention most games run slow as hell on it. Why can’t publishers take more chances on eShop I wonder?? Also still waiting on those visual novels which are apparently coming out in English at some point.

Lumi

Sounds like it’s time to get a new phone! Or a mini tablet. With sd card slot of course. They are ESSENTIAL. Unless your device comes with 64GB of internal space.

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